The region showed in general better conditions for crop growing in the South than in the North. In addition, excessive rainfall could have generated problems for soybean harvesting.

A reduction in rainfall compared to average was observed (13% on average). It particularly affected an area located in South Brazil, East Paraguay and Misiones province in Argentina which suffered an almost continuous negative anomaly. Two relatively small areas located in East Chaco and North of the Argentinian Pampas showed strong positive anomalies of rainfall during April and beginning of May when the main harvest period of soybean occurs. Extreme rainfall hampered the havest of soybean but only with limited and localized impacts. TEMP and RADPAR showed no anomalies for the whole region. TEMP temporal profiles show in general positive anomalies at the beginning of May, negative anomalies in late May and positive anomalies at mid July. Main differences among regions were observed between Central (Figure b - Orange) and Northern agricultural regions of Brazil (Figure b - Dark green) showing more and less positive anomalies respectively. 

Average VCIx for the whole MPZ was 0.68. VCIx values for most of the areas were between 0.8 and 1, and showed the highest values (higher than 1) in the Flooding Pampas. Lower values were observed in the West Pampas. The map of cropped and uncropped arable land shows that most of the area was cropped, except for small regions located in the West Pampas and in Northern parts of Brazilian agricultural areas. BIOMSS showed a contrasting behavior between North and South, presenting strong negative anomalies (-20 % or more) in most of Northern areas and strong positive anomalies in most of the South (+20 % or more). Minimum VHI shows discontinuous patterns along the MPZ. Dominance of higher values is observed in Uruguay and Northern areas of Brazil. Low values occur mostly in the Central regions of Brazil and Paraguay, and part of the Pampas in connexion with negative rainfall anomalies

.a Spatial distribution of rainfall profiles                            .b Spatial distribution of temperature profiles

                   .c Maximum VCI                             .d Cropped and uncropped arable land

  .e Potential biomass departure from 5YA                      .f Minimum Vegetation Health Index

                                             ( g)   Biomass accumulation potential departure                        (h) VHI minimum